Lehed

Jul 18, 2013

Juicy lentil and carrot lasagna

I had a huge craving for a juicy and creamy lasagna. I didn't really want to use mince soy for the filling this time so I went with the red lentils and carrots. It was a great idea! This lasagna also contains a lot of sunflower seed cream which I'm very fond of lately. It's just genius! I mean sunflower seeds are so much cheaper than cashews, they are being sold at almost every grocery store (at least in Estonia) and I use this cream in salads instead of mayo or sour cream and also make different creamy pastas, sauces and casseroles. And it is perfect in this dish too!

I recommend to take time for this dish. It is quite a fine crafting making your lasagna sheets by yourself but it is so not hard. I actually really enjoyed the whole process. It was almost like handwork :) So this dish is perfect when you have time and the right mood and you are in no hurry. Perfect for the weekend, ay?

I made my own lasagna sheets but of course you can use store-bought ones. I also had some leftover lasagna dough, so I wrapped it in a cooking sheet and put it in a fridge. I can use it for making a mini-pizza or cut some nice noodles for a soup.

Before making this dish, soak the sunflower seeds for at least 2 hours!

6-8 people

Pasta dough:

3 cups all-purpose flour (or use whole-wheat or make it 1 cup whole-wheat and 2 cups all-purpose if you want)

1 cup warm water

1 tbsp oil

Pour the flour into a bowl and mix it with oil. Add about half a cup of water and start making a dough ball with your hands. Add the remaining half of water and work the dough with your hands until you have a nice firm dough ball. Cover it with a clean towel and leave it to rest.

Boil the lentils in saltless water until soft. Drain the lentils. Wash the carrots and cut thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler. Chop the onion. Take a bigger pan and heat it up. Pour a couple of tablespoons of oil on it. Add chopped onion and some salt and pepper. Fry and stir for a couple of minutes. Add carrot peels and ground nutmeg. Stir and fry for about 3-4 minutes until the carrot peels are almost soft. Now add drained lentils and some salt. Stir and fry for a couple of minutes. Taste and add some salt and/or pepper if needed. Remove the heat. Now prepare the sunflower seed cream: drain the soaked seeds and pour into a bowl along with water and vegetable stock powder. Use a blender to make a smooth cream. Now prepare the sauce:

Sauce:

1 l tomato juice (lightly salted)

4 tbsp vegan cream

a pinch of fresh or dried marjoram

0,5 tbsp brown sugar

a pinch of salt and pepper

Pour all the ingredients into the pot, stir and boil for a couple of minutes.

Now pre-heat the oven to 200 C. In the meantime take the dough ball and roll it wide and thin on a floured surface. Cut out lasagna noodles. Don't worry, you cannot really go wrong. In the oven all of it will bake together nicely. Take a deep oven dish and start arranging the lasagna. First grease the dish and then put a first layer of lasagna noodles onto the bottom. Now pour some sauce on it (about 1, 5 scoops), add a few tablespoons of lentil-carrot filling and spread it out evenly. Now add a couple of tablespoons of sunflower seed cream and spread it out evenly. Add another layer of lasagna noodles and repeat the procedure. I made 3 layers and on the very top I had lasagna noodles, sauce and sunflower seed cream. Bake the lasagna for about 40 minutes at 200 C. In the meantime you can clean up the kitchen :) Before serving the dish, let it cool for at least 10 minutes. Perfect with some freshly teared basil.

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Hello! My name is Sandra. I'm a long-time vegan and a published cookbook author who lives in the woods and plays drums in a death metal band (Neoandertals). My recipes are easy, delicious and affordable. Welcome to my humble cabin!